Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1869 — Agricultural and Domestic. [ARTICLE]

Agricultural and Domestic.

The Ferslraxuon. _ isofjrte at ti acting considerable attention, bnt yet not f*> ranch as it de•ervetj. By certain people the fruit OT this tree has always been held in high estimation, as may Leiurfvnvd from the following “little story" tvld of if North Clnnoiina ‘’Sand Hiller.” He was sitting on the bank of one of the nuiuerous inlets of “the old North State,” fishing. A boat came along laden with coni, which was being peddled out. The proprietor hailed the “Sand Hiller” and asked him if he wished to buy any corn The Saud Biller answered, “What yer ax for ver corn.” He was answered, “Fifty cents a peck?’ The Sand H iller studied a moment, and answered, “Yer too blasted high with yer corn;,l guess lean pull through for a week, when ’Simrnens will be ripe, and then I wouldn't givya darn for yer corn.” These Sand Hillers know the fatten ing qualities of the Persimiton as well as the Opossum. The Persimmon is one of the < .isiest-treea to propagate, that we are acquainted with. It is a pleasure to grow it from the »eed. The ripe fruit should be gathered and placed on the ground in the shade, and allowed to remain in that situation until it becomes thoroughly, de caved, when the seed can be readily washed free of pulp and packed in damp sand, and placed where it will freeze and thaw often, until spring, when it can be planted where the tree is wanted, or sown in nursery rows. The seed may be covered from two to four inches deep. It does not germinate until Wear the first of June. The beauty of the thing is, the seed can be sown any time during !he spring, amino-more attention given it until the first plijnt or two show themselves, and ,tbeu by taking a hoe and cleaning all the weeds from over the drill, the plants will,' in a few data, spring up three or four inches, when they «an be plowed, givingno furtherU’ouble. Or, the seed may be taken at rfny'nme when the fruit is ripe, and placed in the sand, <frL suppose like naost other H-als, they can be carefully dried; in the shade, and kept in a e'ool. moisfplace, until after mid winter, then soaked a week <>r two in cold water and then tie placed in sand or moss and frozen a time or two, and still l»e in ft condition to germinate readily. Lt is possible that they might be kept dry until early and do well. I have not tried the experiment. But seed need not be planted only for the sake of originating new varieties. The true way to propa gate the Persimmon is, by cuttings of the roots. They grow very readily if made in the fall by cutting roots half an inch to an inch in diameter, four to six inches long, and packing them away in damp moss 01 eand in a not too warm, damp cellar until spring, and then planting them in rich,, deeply worked soil. In this way any one finding an eXtrar* variety can propagate it to any extent desirable. I suppose fine varieties might be budded or grafted on to seedlings, but 1 have had no practical experience. The Persimmon is dioecious, but whether pistilate or fruitfull trees will bear fruit without, the proximity of 1 a staminate one, I have np means of knowing; but reasoning from analogy. I should say it would. The fruit averages in sizb about the sime, perhaps a little less, than that of the mock-er-nut hickory with the hull on, and is a berry or drupe containing, usually, from five to twelve seeds, not qhite so large but of the same shape as the Lima bean. The seeds are surrounded by an extremely acrid, astringept flesh or pulp (which would be of great value in whistby saving the labor of jyyjkerin# lips). The skin is a /pill whitish green, until W-frtrit approaches maturiwrlfttt it changes tb a light’ ■ dull red or orange, and then

become* soft and pasty, almost entirely losing its Stringency, , and is of a rich, sweet fruity I flavor, having the peculiar per- ■ siramon flavor, admired by ' nearly all pt'raonson the first ' trial. It forme a rich, wholesome food for man or beast, though liable to. produce severe constipation of the bowels if eaten in quantify before Thoroughly ripe. The fruit ripens in the extreme southern part of this State, from the middle of August until severe frost, not, as many suppose, none of it ripening before frost. So far North as here, the later varitics will not ripen before frost, yet n< arTy all are better after a severe frost. Some trees hear fruit in abundance, usually of large size and fine quality-, entirely wanting in perfect seeds, and scarcely any eatable pulp; others have a small amount of vtxy rich pulp. Some have pulp, hard, dry and unpalatable, while still others have a large amount of juicy, flat, flavorless or unpleasant pulp. In fact the fruit of the Persimmon has greater diversity of character than most any other natural fruit. The Persimmon, here in the North, appears to do best on our thin, dry clays, i. e. white oak lands. There is one senobjection to the tree: its liability 4o throw up suekers, (probably the Morello cherry stock men will think this an advantage)*and for this reason it .is best to plant the seed where the tree is wanted, which should be on land that it will never tie necessary to plow. The, seed lings should be taken up the first fall, and buried well out of reach 4>f the frost, or if they are where they are to lie left to grow they should be well mounded up with earth, and then the mound covered with Coarse manure, as they are quite tender the first winter. The tree, this far North, grows about as fast and attains about the same size of the apple, with a head of about the same form. My object in telling what little I know about the Persimmon, is to call attention to it and our other indigenous plants. It can l>e greatly improved upon by carefully growing it from the seed; so can our goosWrries, currants, raspberries and, without any doubt, even the. crab. Let us, while the exotic apple, peach, plum, etc., are showing each year more signs of future entire failure, be experimenting with and trying to bring these lusty,’ healthy, h njdyindigenouftfrai ts - ’ujMo their mglie^"ittmuabhr point of perfection. The Great West has the vantage ground in alljiorticultural pursuits, and we must not let the New Y’ork city farmers’ club squeeze all the good qualities out of the Persimmon. Lacon Co., 111. D. B, Wier.

—Of the nineteen million acres of land in the State of South Carolina, only one-fourth is under cultivation. The remainder, some 14,500,000, is primeval forest. Fully half of the 4,500,000 now under quad cultivation is for sale, some of it so low as one dollar per acre, and ranging from tbatlup to fifty dollars, 1 Toast Water.—Toast slowly a thin pieee of bread till quite brown and dark, but not the least black’ plunge it in cold w»ter <y>yer jfr an hour before used This. is very serviceable, usecMbr weak bowels. It should be a fine brown color before drinking it. To Cure Toothache. —According to the Loudon Lancet toothache can be cured by the following preparation of carbonic acid: To one drachm o/ collodium add two drachms of Calvert’s carbonic acid. A gelatinous mass is precipitated, a small portion of which inserted in the canty of an aching tooth, invariably gives immediate relief. . _ , f —-Soap suds should never be wasted on washing-day, but should be poured on the manU to